No Photos On The Dance Floor! A two-part compilation celebrating close to thirty years in the legendary history of Berlin techno. The title refers to a well-known rule forbidding photography of any kind once past the doors, which is in place across much of the Berlin club landscape. Curated by Heiko Hoffmann (Groove Magazine), the concept began as a photography and video art exhibition by the same name which was co-curated by Hoffmann and shown at C/O Berlin in late 2019, which was also followed by a retrospective book in 2020.

No Photos On The Dance Floor charts the journey from the fall of the wall in 1992 right through to the present day, mapping the various styles which emerged within whilst acknowledging the external influences from the UK and the midwestern US which contributed along the way. Part One covers 1992-2006, with contributions from a host of heavyweight including Juan Atkins, Maurizio, Sleeparchive, Monolake and Alec Empire. It features a lot of the early crossover sounds of the scene’s raw formative years - acid house, electro and filtered disco all cross pollinate with the unmistakable Berlin techno sound across nine heavyweight club tracks.

Part Two focuses on 2007 to the present day, which contains the likes of Richie Hawtin’s alias Plastikman, Ben Klock, Avalon Emerson and Modeselektor amongst many more. Reflecting the means of music production becoming more accessible within this time, it features a more polished, expansive and monolithic form of techno. Big room techno behemoths sit alongside synth led ambient tracks, ranging from unrelenting Berghain-esque bangers to stripped melodic takes.

Given the track list alone, this will make for an essential record for fans of techno or its many variants.

There’s something to be said about dance music that astutely withholds the dancing element — at least, at first. Berlin-based duo Aaron and Felix aka FJAAK crack open ‘WH?T’ with the scurrying of rave pads and industrious breakbeat hits, slyly dodging the track’s rhythmic centre, which only bursts into a full-blown techno stepper near enough around the one minute mark. Such thrill seeking is echoed in the Pinch remix, where the hardcore factor is hardened and the bass is blow-out-your-speakers dense. A breakneck acid trip comes wrapped in some heavily-modulated arps on ‘XoXp0rt’, with the welcome addition of DJ J. Manuel.

Berlin-based duo Aaron and Felix aka FJAAK deliver a set of no-nonsense hardcore techno bangers as a fitting tribute to the spots that have helped them over the years — and all the proceeds from this release go directly back into those fine clubs in the hope that they will open up and gather folks on the floor once again someday. As if the communal spirit behind SYS02 wasn’t enough, there’s a tone across these tracks that suggest the kind of collective euphoria of massive warehouse raves, from the terse electrostatic hold and release of ‘Bassiani’ to the snare-punctured beat of ‘Basement’.